Choose Equestrian Photography

A Monologue, inspired by Trainspotting’s ‘Choose Life’

Choose waking up before the crack of dawn—
only for the light to ghost you because the sun had better plans.
Choose blonde espresso that tastes like regret, and cold fingers fumbling for the lens cap.
Choose carrying $10,000 worth of gear while your back spasms and your arms beg for mercy.
Choose the cold. The heat. The sideways rain.
All for that one second of grace in motion.

Choose a sport where the light’s never right,
the focus is never quite sharp enough,
and the mane never flies the way you imagined.
Choose draft horses, sport horses, ponies with vengeance in their hearts,
and red mares who look at you like you’re the problem.

Choose dust on your lens.
Sweat down your spine.
And a horse who thinks “ears forward” is a personal attack.

Choose your own intrusive thoughts—
“Watch your histogram.”
“Freeze the action.”
“Feel the moment.”
Feel what, Sharon?
The pressure? The exhaustion?
My brain buffering just long enough to spiral into artistic crisis?

Choose gaslighting yourself into thinking this is your passion.
Choose Imposter Syndrome.
Choose lens caps you’ll lose, batteries you forgot to charge,
and memory cards you definitely didn’t format.
Choose waiting in the heat for the moment—
then looking at your screen and realizing you missed it by half a second.

Choose awkward poses.
Shadowy faces.
Angles that haunt your dreams.

Choose smiling through tears when someone says,
“Wow! Your camera takes really nice photos.”

Choose f-stops.
ISO.
RAW files the size of a small country.
And editing at 2 am; face three inches from the screen,
debating your life choices while your laptop burns your thighs.

Choose horsehair in your mouth while you try to capture a black background portrait
that reveals not just the horse—but its essence.
Choose people screenshotting your work like ‘do not copy’ is just a polite suggestion.

Choose precision.
Choose patience.
Choose Photoshop freezing and Lightroom crashing.
Choose never quite feeling good enough.
But choose it anyway.

Choose doing all of this with a smile,
while secretly wondering if a quiet job in retail might be less traumatic.

Choose Instagram reels.
Choose Facebook reach of 0.02%.
Choose TikToks hijacked by teens commenting,
“OMG this horse looks like Spirit!!”

Choose hashtags like #EarPorn and #ManeGoals
and wonder what your life has become.

Choose the mess.
The sweat.
The frustration.
Then—choose that one impossible, magical moment
when everything aligns,
and you think, This is it.
The horse is flying. The rider’s face is pure joy.
And you’ve just captured the soul of the sport in a single frame.

Then choose the next day.
Because one great shot is never enough.

Choose insanity.
Choose delusion.
Choose pulling hay out of your bra.

Choose equestrian photography.
Because there’s nothing else like it.

Agree? Disagree? Still covered in arena dust? Drop your thoughts below!

Photo by Thomas William on Unsplash

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